Noise Control: Pile Driver Demonstration Project, Waterloo, Iowa

摘要

A project jointly sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Noise Abatement and Control; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL); and the Directorate of Civil Works was undertaken to demonstrate in a construction project the availability of retrofit control technology for pile drivers. Various in-use retrofit noise control measures for reducing the noise of pile drivers were investigated: alternative pile driving techniques, mufflers, noise enclosures, impact cushions, and vibration damping of piles. Costs and productivity impacts associated with the noise control measures were also examined. Costs were developed in units of dollars per pile. Productivity was identified in terms of the time to set up and drive a pile. The ability of a general construction contractor to bid on a noise specification, and then obtain and implement the noise control measures during the construction project were a part of the demonstration. The vibratory pile driver took the longest time to drive a pile. The noise enclosure and muffler had no significant impact on the time to drive a pile. The enclosure did require a longer set up time, but a longer duration test is required to substantiate these productivity data. The Corps of Engineers' use of a detailed contract bid document specifying noise control requirements was successful.